UDC

669.013:669.295

Authors

Ezhov Arkady Olegovich
Institute of Humanities and Arts, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin (Verkhnyaya Salda, Russia)
e-mail: ezhov.ao@mail.ru

Abstract

The paper introduces periodization of the titanium industry development in the Soviet Union and analyses the initial stage of creating titanium industry in the Ural region: transition from the experimental to industrial production. The author takes the launching of titanium sheet production by Plant no. 519 (Verkhnyaya Salda, Sverdlovsk Region, presently, JSC VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation) in 1954–1955 as an example. During this period, the operating non-ferrous and aviation metallurgical plants which had been restructured for the “metal of the century” were selected. At the same time, a large-scale technology and specialized equipment development, as well as personnel training started. It did not take long to achieve adequate results in titanium sheet production and develop basic recommendations on melting technology, as well as other processes. The close interrelationship within the ingot-product chain that existed already at that stage allowed the workers to master new technological processes in no time. Titanium sheet production was important for the development of strategic sectors of the economy and in the context of cold war helped strengthen the country’s defence capacity. The emergence of titanium industry in the Soviet Union and Ural region coincided with the second phase of the late industrial modernization and initiated a large-scale production of semi-finished titanium products for the aerospace industry and shipbuilding. Organization of titanium industry is one of the examples of mobilization modernization, specific of the Soviet Union.

Keywords

late industrial modernization, scientific and technical revolution, titanium industry in the Ural region, titanium sheet production, VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation

References

1. Voevodin M.V. VSMPO-AVISMA: zakazov ot rossiyskikh predpriyatiy mnogo, kak nikogda, no defitsita titana net. [VSMPO-AVISMA: Orders from Russian Companies More Than Ever, but Enough Titanium. June 25th, 2013]. Available at: http://www.metalbulletin.ru/publications/4008/ (accessed 13 March 2014).
   
2. Korzhubaev A.G., Sokolova I.A., Eder L.V. Gazovaya promyshlennost’ Rossii: mezhdunarodnye pozitsii, organizatsionnaya i regional’naya struktura [Russian Gas Industry: international Position, Organizational and Regional Structure]. Available at: http://burneft.ru/archive/issues/2011-10/1 (accessed 1 February 2014).
   
3. Alekseev V.V. Transformatsiya rossiyskoy tsivilizatsii v XX veke [Transformation of the Russian Civilization in the 20th Century]. Industrial’naya Rossiya: profes. sb. nauch. st. K 60-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya d. i. n., prof. V.V. Zapariya [Industrial Russia: Collected Papers. To the 60th Anniversary of Doctor of History, Professor V.V. Zapariya]. Yekaterinburg, 2012, pp. 58–59.
   
4. Lebedev V.E. Regional’noe izmerenie gosudarstvennoy nauchno-tekhnicheskoy politiki (po materialam Urala) [Regional Dimension of the State Research and Technological Policy (on the Materials of the Ural Region)]. Ural’skiy istoricheskiy vestnik, 2008, no. 3(20), pp. 20–30.
   
5. Senyavskiy A.A. Sovetskaya model’ industrial’noy modernizatsii: istoriko-teoreticheskie problemy [Soviet Model of Industrial Modernization: Historical and Theoretical Problems]. Ural’skiy istoricheskiy vestnik, 2010, no. 3(28), pp. 64–73.
   
6. Trofimov A.V. Sovremennye metodologicheskie podkhody k izucheniyu i ob”yasneniyu sovetskoy istorii [Modern Methodological Approaches to the Study and Explanation of Soviet History]. Problemy ekonomicheskoy istorii Urala: profes. sb. nauch. st., posvyashch. 60-letiyu prof. B.V. Lichmana [Problems of the Economic History of the Urals: Collected Papers Dedicated to the 60th Birthday Anniversary of Prof. B.V. Lichman]. Yekaterinburg, 2006, pp. 327–358.
   
7. Nikolaev G.I. Metall veka [Metal of the Century]. Moscow, 1982.
   
8. Metall skreplyaet vremena i sud’by [Metal Fastens Times and People’s Lives Together]. Comp. by A.O. Ezhov, E.G. Ezhova. Yekaterinburg, 1998.
   
9. Tsvetnaya metallurgiya SSSR [Non-Ferrous Metallurgy in the USSR]. Moscow, 1970.
   
10. Istoriya promyshlennosti Permskogo kraya – XX vek [The Industrial History of the Perm Krai: The 20th Century]. Perm, 2006.
    
11. Kvasov F.I., Kaganovich I.N., Kozhevnikova L.I. Titan. Proizvodstvo, primenenie, lyudi [Production, Practical Use, People]. Moscow, 1992.
    
12. Denisov S.I. Elektrotermiya titanovykh shlakov [Electrothermy of Titanium Slags]. Moscow, 1970.
    
13. Korzun V.K., Shanaurin V.E. Syr’evaya baza titanovoy promyshlennosti [Raw Material Sources of Titanium Industry]. Titan, 1993, no. 2, p. 6.
    
14. Zolotoy otblesk titana. K 50-letiyu vyplavki pervogo titanovogo slitka na zavode № 95 – VSMOZ-VSMPO [The Golden Glow of Titanium. To the 50th Anniversary of the First Titanium Ingot Smelting on the Factory No. 95 – VSMOZ-VSMPO]. Comp. by A.O. Ezhov, E.G. Ezhova. Yekaterinburg, 2007.
    
15. Postigaya sut’ titana (1956–2008) [Understanding the Essence of Titanium (1956–2008)]. Comp. by A.O. Ezhov, E.G. Ezhova. 2008.
    
16. Istoriya metallurgii legkikh splavov v SSSR (1945–1987) [The History of Light Alloy Metallurgy in the USSR (1945–1987)]. Moscow, 1988.